McDonald’s works at a huge scale and this deployment is no different: Over the next year-and-a-half, Meta expects 1.9 million McDonald’s employees to be given Workplace as a tool. As of last year, Workplace had 7 million paid subscribers (Meta declined to give any updated figures about its user base for this article). The deal is a significant example of the way organizations have started using more digital tools to communicate with frontline workers and employees that aren’t at a desk all day. When organizations shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving only frontline workers at their regular places of work, it underscored how overlooked those employees were in terms of technology. Meta sought to fill that need with Workplace, as did Microsoft, Workday, Google and plenty of other tech vendors. Workplace is already in use by a significant percentage of McDonald’s franchise workers in 11 markets, Meta said, including Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland. It’s also in use at various company-owned restaurants in the US. Throughout 2022 and in 2023, McDonald’s plans to deploy Workplace in additional markets, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. The fast-food giant has decided to aggressively expand its use of Workplace after beginning an initial pilot program in Spain last year. The company was happy with the level of engagement it’s seeing: In Spain, 140,000 messages are sent on Workplace each month. In Portugal, 73% of McDonald’s restaurant users are active on a weekly basis. McDonald’s uses Workplace to give employees access to timely business updates, content like local marketing or promotional materials, training courses and other content. Employees can also share information like tips and best practices. Workplace is accessible on users’ phones, but Meta noted that the deployment is “set up in a way that gives employees the opportunity to connect, or disconnect when they feel the need to do so.” McDonald’s Chief People Officer Heidi Capozzi said in a statement that Workplace makes it “easier for crew to grow and succeed in their jobs, and to build deeper, more meaningful connections with their teams.”
